and possessed of the entire confidence
and affection of his own people, he applied himself to the work of
self-preservation, with an energy and fertility of resource, which
scarcely ever, in a righteous cause, fails to ensure success. That he
was suffered to fail, is one of those inscrutable providences which
stand frequently out on the page of history, to confound the
short-sighted sagacity of man, and restrain his too inquisitive desire
to fathom the counsels and purposes of heaven.

Perceiving that the ground was to be contested, step by step, and that
not a foot would be yielded but at the point of the bayonet, and the
mouth of the cannon, Cortez resolved on reducing the smaller towns
first, and so approaching the capital, by slow degrees, leaving no
unfriendly territory behind him, to cut off his supplies, or annoy his
rear. In this manner, after almost incredible hardships, and many severe
contests, in which his forces were very considerably reduced, he
succeeded in wresting by violence, or winning by diplomacy, many of the
tributary cities and districts from their allegiance to the Mexican
crown. In their attempt upon Iztapalapan, which was led by Cortez in
person, they were near being entirely overwhelmed by an artificial
inundation of the city. The great dikes were pierced by the natives, and
the waters of the lake came pouring in upon them, in torrents, from
which they made their escape with the utmost difficulty, with the loss
of all their booty and ammunition, and not a few of their Indian allies.
The place, however, was reduced to submission. Chalco, Otumba, and many
other important posts were soon after added to the number of the
conquered.

This work of subjugation among the tributary provinces and cities, was
not a little facilitated by the memory of the iron rule of Montezuma,
and his severe exactions upon all his subjects, to maintain the
splendors of the imperial palace. They had long felt these exactions to
be most burdensome and unequal, and had only submitted to them by force
of the terror of that name, which made all Anahuac tremble. They were,
therefore, not unwilling to embrace any opportunity to throw off the
Aztec yoke, when they could do it with the hope of ultimate protection
from its vengeance. They had not long enough tested the administration
of Guatimozin, to look for any relief from their burdens under his
reign. He came to the throne at one of those signal crises in the
affairs of t